Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou asked a consultant to advise on the potential sale of
easyCar, the flotation of easyBus and new sources of equity for easyHotel
before refusing to pay him, court documents allege.

By Alistair Osborne and Jonathan Sibun

6:15AM GMT 25 Jan 2011

The easyGroup owner is being sued in the High Court by Amir Eilon for £53,375, before interest, in the latest legal row over unpaid bills to involve the easyJet founder.

Easyjet

Mr Eilon, who also advised Sir Stelios on a long-running brand dispute with the airline, claims he is owed money under two separate consultancy agreements.

Under the first, Mr Eilon claims he was to be paid £5,000 a month for consultancy services relating to three of easyGroup’s biggest businesses.

They included “finalising [but not yet concluding] negotiations with a serious possible buyer of easyCar” and “co-ordinating the marketing” for a possible easyBus float this summer.

Sir Stelios ended the first agreement by email on November 30. Mr Eilon is claiming £17,625 relating to that contract.

The claim alleges the second consultancy arrangement saw Mr Eilon paid £2,000 a day for advising on “a new brand licensing arrangement” signed in October between Sir Stelios and easyJet. It may see the entrepreneur pocket upwards of £10m a year in royalties by 2013.

There was also said to be a potential “success fee” at “the client’s sole discretion”. Sir Stelios has not paid one.

Mr Eilon claims he is owed a further £35,750 under the second consultancy deal. He also reserves his right to claim success fees relating to the first agreement.

Sir Stelios said: “Our current agreement is governed by a very clear two page document signed by me. I do not recognise obligations outside this contract. It is clear that he has no rights to any success fees after termination.”

He confirmed that he was still deciding between Liberum and Peel Hunt as adviser for a possible float of easyBus.

Mr Eilon declined to comment.

The dispute with Mr Eilon is the latest to involve Sir Stelios after a year in which the heads of five of his easyGroup companies have either been fired or quit.

One, ex-easyCar boss Bill Jones, has filed a £70,000 claim. Sir Stelios is also in a £78,000 legal dispute with Nick Manoudakis, a former easyGroup finance director, while his former lawyer Bird & Bird is claiming that he has failed to settle a £2.3m bill in full. Sir Stelios is defending all the claims.